Posts Tagged ‘Cambridge Footlights’

Don’t miss your chance to see the latest from the group that launched many of the greatest names in British comedy, including Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, John Cleese, and others! Forget everything you think you know and learn it all again in this spectacular, sketch-shaped trip through the kinks and quirks of life on Earth!

$15 / 60 minutes

Since its opening in 2005, Philly Improv Theater (PHIT) has been the heart of Philadelphia’s nationally recognized comedy scene. PHIT produces over one thousand performances annually, with shows on multiple stages, seven nights a week, every week of the year. Beyond Philadelphia, Philly Improv Theater’s performers tour regularly, making appearances at the most prestigious comedy venues across North America.­

Dedicated to developing talent locally, the PHIT Training Center teaches over 1,000 adults, kids and teens how to improvise, write sketch comedy, and perform stand-up each year. Alumni and performers seen on PHIT’s stages have worked on Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show, 30 Rock, The Late Show, Two and Half Men, Raising Hope, Key & Peele, Kroll Show, The State, Girl Code, Guy Code, Orange is the New Black, and The Kids in the Hall.

The United States government may be pursuing an isolationist policy but the Philadelphia Fringe is doing the opposite: opening its doors not only to the most creative American performers and performances but also to the best and most creative theater artists and their productions from around the world—overcoming the ancient fear of the symbolic Tower of Babel with people not understanding each other.

To show the worldwide scope of the 22nd Philadelphia Fringe Festival, we offer this spotlight on performers from abroad and productions by American artists that present a global perspective.

Theater writer Henrik Eger, editor of Drama Around the Globe and contributor to Phindie and Broad Street Review, among other publications, has lived in six countries on three continents and has visited Africa and Australia as well. He bids everyone a hearty WELCOME to the City of Brotherly Love—this year in 18 different languages: Arabic, Celtic, Chinese, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Latin, Polish, Romanian, and Spanish.

We start this year’s overview with a special welcome to two programs featuring a wide range of global creators:

INTERNATIONAL CREATIVES

Bienvenue & welcome to Montreal-based choreographer Sylvain Émard and Le Super Grand Continental. Le Grand Continental wowed audiences during its run at the 2012 Fringe Festival and has garnered enthusiastic response across the world. Fully realizing a blissful marriage between the pure delight of line dancing and the fluidity and expressiveness of contemporary dance, the celebratory event enlists hundreds of local people to perform its synchronized choreography in large-scale public performances. The world’s most infectious performance event returns to the front steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in an even larger spectacle of dance.

Bonvenon, willkommen, bienvenido, witamy, bienvenue & welcome to Do You Want A Cookie? from The Bearded Ladies Cabaret—a world premiere with an international cast. Do You Want A Cookie? serves up a delicious romp through cabaret history, with an international cast of artists performing a live revue of cabaret from the Chat Noir to Weimar nightlife to 21st-century drag. The all-star cast comes draws from around the world, including Bridge Markland (Berlin), Malgorzata Kasprzycka (Paris/Warsaw), Dieter Rita Scholl (Berlin), and Tareke Ortiz (Mexico City).

وسهلااهلا (ahlaan wasahlan) & bienvenu. Welcome to Tania El Khoury who lives in Lebanon and the UK with her multifaceted program ear-whispered. Little is known about Palestinian refugee camps and their communities. El Khoury presents her Fringe work in five parts through interactive performances and installations at Bryn Mawr College:

Bienvenido & welcome to the bilingual (Spanish & English) cast ofLa Fábrica performing Gustave Ott’s Passport. Lost in a foreign country, Eugenia is detained and thrown into a vicious maelstrom of miscommunication. This poetic and immersive Kafkaesque thriller delves into the question of immigration—exposing the mechanics of language and power. Some performances will be presented in English, some in Spanish, and some will be decided at the toss of a coin.

Fringe artists are known for keeping audiences on their toes. Laugh out loud at these joyous comedy and improv shows that will leave you smiling and breathless.

An Unofficial, Unauthorized Tour of LOVE ParkRose Luardo / Kate BanfordAn interactive, questions-encouraged tour of LOVE Park with a completely legitimate, highly respected, and 100% real tour company. At each stop on this mind-bending guided walk through the park, facts will be manipulated and reality will melt. Maybe a bush will talk to you? And maybe that bush invented love. Presented by Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and the Fairmount Park Conservancy.More info and tickets here

Darlings: Kill Us PleaseGood Good Comedy TheatreDarlings: Kill Us Please is the debut Fringe show from Darlings, a collective of Philadelphia’s most celebrated comedic heartthrobs. We’ve gutted the innards of a full year’s worth of shows at Good Good Comedy Theatre and only left in the juiciest bits and chunks.More info and tickets here

Like no improv you have seen before! A new dramatic one-act play channeling the works of the great American playwright Tennessee Williams is created before your eyes each night. Enter a world of tortured, desperate characters—ripe with unfulfilled dreams, desires, and the struggle to find escape from a harsh reality. The cast creates a show ripe with unfulfilled dreams, desires, and the struggle to find escape from a harsh reality. More info and tickets here.

Roll Play: An Improvised Adventure @ The Adrienne Theater
Roll Play

Roll Play is an improvised fantasy epic, combining the excitement of role-playing games with the spontaneity of live improv comedy. Guided by a mysterious Dungeon Master, the audience helps craft the world and its characters while dice rolls decide their fate. Join our heroes as they face mythical monsters, strange spells, ridiculous riddles, and more. Every show is a brand new adventure! More tickets and info here.

Join “the most renowned sketch troupe of them all” (London Independent) transferring from the Edinburgh Fringe for free-flowing hilarity, excellent original writing & side-splitting character comedy. Don’t miss your chance to see this inventive new offering from the group that launched Monty Python and John Oliver! More info and tickets here.